APT (Advanced Persistent Threats) is the talk of the town. There is too much of noise and confusion. Everybody wants to make money. Quite a few uses FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) to sell their products. I wanted to highlight the APT secrets which vendors don't tell (well mostly).
There is no single solution for APT
APT is a like a war. No single solution is good enough. You cannot have a solution to your APT problem. APT needs to be addressed through a holistic approach. Any vendor who says that they have "THE" solution for "APT" is either telling a lie or is unaware of facts.
(Read more: Action List Before Adopting a Cloud Technology)
There is no solution(guaranteed) for APT
If you consider APT as a cyber war with governments involved, you simply cannot protect yourself (theoretically). Intelligence and Government run cyber warfare is lot more than a technology war. They combine the age old espionage with the new age cyber warfare techniques. Governments have the power to monitor and control things beyond what we can normally imagine. The spies from intelligence agencies are no less than James Bond. They can steal your secrets without really hacking you. Theoretically anybody can be a spy working for a government agency. Even the person you trust. They excel in their job of manipulating people and their perceptions.
(Read more: 7 Key Lessons from the LinkedIn Breach)
APT is not just a technology problem
APT is not just a technology problem. Even if you have the best technology, the people are the weakest links.The organizations with the best security can be compromised easily by using social engineering.
(Watch more : An approach to present IT Risk as Business Risk)
APT is more "Persistent" than "Advanced"
APT is not really "advanced". The technology advancement that happened in APT is very natural advancement like what happens with any other technology. It is not a quantum leap like that happened in Cloud or Big Data. What today people consider as new were already known long back to the hacker/technology community. Whatever new has happened is a natural progress and does not justify the status of "Advanced". If you call this advanced then what will be tomorrow's attacks? "Advanced Advanced"? I believe APT is more persistent than Advanced. Since there is higher awareness and bigger market, the industry needed a new name...so here comes "Advanced" !
So how do we fight it? The secret is as complex as figuring out "How to be happy?". You cannot have a perfect strategy to have eternal happiness. However you can manage it. I will soon write on how to create a holistic strategy to manage APT risks. But not today. I am too hungry without my breakfast..need to attack my refrigerator now!
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